" Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but in here, it's so delightful.
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........."
Well, the weather wasn't really frightful. Cold, yes. Frightful, no. Unless you're afraid of the cold, which judging by the lack of bikes on the road, many are. It did snow overnight, apparently. And yes, by golly, I do have places to go. But I'm getting ahead of myself here........
Sunday October 2, 2011 - 260 miles
Little Switzerland, NC - Diamondback Motorcycle and Sports Car Route NC226A
After painfully watching my Florida Gators get soundly spanked by The Alabama Gruesome Tide Saturday night, I knew I needed a nice, long motorbike ride to lift my spirits and ignite the adventure fire in me once again. I couldn't think of a better way than to jump on the beaST and ride a road I had never been on before.
Sunday morning dawned bright and COLD! Perfect. I wanted to try out a new layering system on my riding gear, as well as some new cold weather gear. So cold was good. I left Roo and the quadripeds all nestled in bed, while visions of.......ok, no more Christmas song analogies.
At 8:30 AM I was rolling down my street, my thermometer reading 43 degrees. I was toasty. The plan being to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway via Hwy 276 and through the Pisgah Forest, with my first stop at the Pisgah Inn at Mt. Pisgah, approximately 90 miles away. As the road slanted upward, my thermometer numbers fell, so that by the time I reached the Pisgah Inn, the temp reading was 38 degrees and the wind was blowing like stink. I was still toasty.
Until I took off my gloves. My hands immediately got very, very, cold, very, very, quickly. This quick cold hands/fingers thing all stems from a frostbite incident back in the 1980's while living in Florida. Don't ask. It's another story.
So I ate, drank, saw a man about a horse (ask someone if you don't know), put my gloves back on and rolled on down the Parkway. It took about 20 minutes for my hands to warm up again in my new Thinsulate/Goretex winter moto gloves. Then they were fine. Riding along on my favorite road, I kept my speed at the posted 45 MPH to 5 over. The park rangers here are very strict enforcing the posted speed limits, and if you get busted, it's a Federal rap with uber stiff fines. This is a National Park, you know.
So, my next planned stop was Little Switzerland, NC, a teeny, tiny little spot on the map and a great lunch stop. Descending from Mt. Pisgah, the temp began to rise until it hit 51 degrees. Then the road inclined upward once again as I made my way to Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak on the east coast. Temperatures began falling once again, and by the time I reached Craggy Gardens, I had hit a low of 34 degrees! But I was still toasty!
As I rode through a tunnel and approached Craggy Gardens, I was reveling in the day, the machine, the road, and how great my riding gear was working. Rounding a long, left hand sweeper, I came upon a totally unexpected sight that blew me away. This is what I saw:
Wow! How cool is that? Pictures don't do it justice. Ice and snow with the sunlight glistening off the trees and grass like a million little prisms, was absolutely beautiful. What a great surprise. Grinning inside my helmet, I mounted the beaST and continued on towards Little Switzerland. Very carefully. Although the temperatures were beginning to rise, there was some ice on the road in the shady areas. I rode the beaST gingerly until all ice and snow had disappeared. I didn't want to be sliding into Little Switzerland for lunch!
Arriving in Little Switzerland around 2PM, I was very hungry. The lunch venue today was the Switzerland Cafe, one of about 5 buildings that make up the town. Good coffee, great food, highly recommended. Lunch done, it was now time to ride an unknown road; NC226A. In short, what a blast! Not a long road, it curves it's way up to Spruce Pine, NC about 10 miles away. But there's no straight sections! Fantastic! So up to Spruce Pine I flew, turned around, back to Little Switzerland, enjoyed myself so much, I turned around and did it again! Back in Little Switzerland, I stopped in the Cafe store and bought myself a well earned T-shirt.
Great fun! The sun was now on it's downward trek. Time to get back on the road to home. Back on NC226A to NC226, which is a fun road in itself as it drops down off the ridge. This is also a very curvaceous road, but what was amusing to me was the signage I saw that I have never seen on a mountain road before. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but there was nowhere to pull off (or I was having too much fun?). This is what it said: " Road worsens after speeding truck ramp." What? The curves did tighten after the ramp, but.....What? Pretty funny. Into Marion, NC where I caught up with NC221 and then on to NC108. This is a beautiful road with long sweepers and beautiful scenery. It wouldn't be much longer until I was home again with Roo and the quadripeds. I wonder what visions were dancing in their heads this morning..........
END
So, my next planned stop was Little Switzerland, NC, a teeny, tiny little spot on the map and a great lunch stop. Descending from Mt. Pisgah, the temp began to rise until it hit 51 degrees. Then the road inclined upward once again as I made my way to Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak on the east coast. Temperatures began falling once again, and by the time I reached Craggy Gardens, I had hit a low of 34 degrees! But I was still toasty!
As I rode through a tunnel and approached Craggy Gardens, I was reveling in the day, the machine, the road, and how great my riding gear was working. Rounding a long, left hand sweeper, I came upon a totally unexpected sight that blew me away. This is what I saw:
 |
| Damn! That's cold! |
Arriving in Little Switzerland around 2PM, I was very hungry. The lunch venue today was the Switzerland Cafe, one of about 5 buildings that make up the town. Good coffee, great food, highly recommended. Lunch done, it was now time to ride an unknown road; NC226A. In short, what a blast! Not a long road, it curves it's way up to Spruce Pine, NC about 10 miles away. But there's no straight sections! Fantastic! So up to Spruce Pine I flew, turned around, back to Little Switzerland, enjoyed myself so much, I turned around and did it again! Back in Little Switzerland, I stopped in the Cafe store and bought myself a well earned T-shirt.
Great fun! The sun was now on it's downward trek. Time to get back on the road to home. Back on NC226A to NC226, which is a fun road in itself as it drops down off the ridge. This is also a very curvaceous road, but what was amusing to me was the signage I saw that I have never seen on a mountain road before. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but there was nowhere to pull off (or I was having too much fun?). This is what it said: " Road worsens after speeding truck ramp." What? The curves did tighten after the ramp, but.....What? Pretty funny. Into Marion, NC where I caught up with NC221 and then on to NC108. This is a beautiful road with long sweepers and beautiful scenery. It wouldn't be much longer until I was home again with Roo and the quadripeds. I wonder what visions were dancing in their heads this morning..........
END
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